OUGD602 - Frankie Ratford, The Design Kids

Today Frankie Ratford, founder of The Design Kids, an organisation that connects students with the design industry came into uni to host a talk with our class. Frankie is currently traveling across the UK, connecting with many incredible creative professionals and design studios as well as graphic design courses throughout England, Scotland and Wales.

Through persistence, gut and positivity Frankie has turned her passion into a career by combining design, travel and business. She has worked as a print designer, a lecturer, an intern, a blogger, a freelancer, a book binder and a bunch of other design related stuff. She’s lived in 13 cities, in 25+ houses and is currently road tripping around the world for six years, right now in Europe building the TDK empire. She started The Design Kids in 2009 and launched with a market stall in the front yard with some mates and a DJ.

Frankie's life is hard to believe as she is truly living the dream, travelling the world, meeting hundreds of inspiring creatives and getting paid to do so! Her motivational and positive attitude was really inspiring and just goes to show the right personality can get you anywhere you want in life.

She suggested a list of things to do before graduating to ensure success after uni: 

• Attend Design Events (1 a week)
• Start a personal project
• Enter Design Competitions (1 a month)
• Become besties with your lecturer
• Tell everyone you're a graphic designer
• Design a buisness card
• Research your top 10 studios globally
• Run TDK Tuesdays in your city
• Put your final work on #TDKpeepshow

She also introduced us to the concept of Ikigai: